When I started out as the Opinions Editor for The Silhouette this past year, I admittedly didn’t care much about student politics or governance. I was unfamiliar with the policies of the McMaster Students Union and had no idea what happened during Student Representative Assembly meetings.
Nowadays, I regularly watch the SRA livestreams and perform my due diligence to be aware of changes occurring within the MSU. A large part of that is for my job, but I’ve found that staying informed has benefits beyond finding something to write about.
The purpose of the MSU is to “represent you and to help build a better community for all students”. As the governing body of the MSU, SRA members have a responsibility to represent and lobby on behalf of their students.
It’s only fair then that we as students hold these members, and the MSU in general, accountable for their actions. In doing so, we are ensuring that any changes occurring are truly reflective of the needs and desires of students.
There’s many ways for students can hold these organizations accountable. They can attend SRA meetings, speak to their SRA representative, voice their concerns online or even protest for change.
Alternatively, you can do what I do, and write about your concerns for the campus newspaper. Perhaps some of my criticisms have been harsh or slightly misguided. But at the end of the day, I’m proud of the articles that I’ve written and edited for The Silhouette. Even if they have stepped on some toes, I’d like to think they’ve helped incite some positive changes on campus.
Whether these changes are a fully-stocked Union Market or investigations into MSU-recognized clubs, it’s evident that speaking out on issues is important.
Not everything the SRA or MSU has done has been negative. In fact, they have made some great, positive changes that are deserving of praise, or at the very least, of respect.
A few weeks ago, I had plans to write about the SRA’s contradictory playing of the national anthem and delivery of a land acknowledgment at their meetings. To my surprise, I found that they passed a motion to stop playing the national anthem at their meetings altogether. Things like these are positive changes that students should be aware of.
Of course, there is only so much that students can do. Given the record eight students who attended the General Assembly on March 20, it is obvious that the MSU must do a better job at engaging with their student constituents.
But just because the MSU and SRA have much to improve doesn’t mean that students are off the hook for staying informed. Without student input and advocacy efforts, organizations are given too much power and can make decisions that negatively impact us all.
For example, without the efforts of a few brave survivors telling their experiences with sexual assault within the MSU Maroons, it’s unlikely that the service would be doing anything to account for the issue, much less propose developing a long-overdue sexual assault and harassment policy.
I encourage students to get engaged with their university’s politics. It might seem overwhelming, and the information is certainly not easy to navigate, but it’s important work.
Especially in light of the upcoming changes to post-secondary education made by the provincial government, it is in the best interests of all students to be engaged with their union’s activities.
My term at The Silhouette is reaching a close. I’ve learned a lot during my time working for the newspaper but my biggest takeaway is that student politics affects us all, including those outside of the MSU bubble. For our own sake, we ought to keep our student organizations accountable for their actions.
[thesil_related_posts_sc]Related Posts[/thesil_related_posts_sc]
Katija Bonin
The Silhouette
On Thursday, March 1, a phishing email was sent to the general population of McMaster. Purporting to be from University Technology Services (UTS), the email asked email users to go to a non-McMaster website and provide log in credentials. Failure to do so would allegedly result in termination of one’s email account.
As stated by Julia Kraveca, manager of Client Services for UTS, “such attacks happen every so often.” Out of all incoming e-mail messages that McMaster receives, approximately 22 per cent are legitimate e-mails. The remaining e-mails are types of spam that may be caught by filters, and just like catching fish with a net, it is to be expected that one may fall through.
The main difference is that senders of phishing e-mails are aware of the different security mechanisms, and swim around them in order to be the one that lands in student inboxes.
In such circumstance, when the unauthentic email was not prevented, UTS used defensive measures in order to control its effects, noted Kraveca.
The phishing note was reported to UTS at 2 p.m. on March 1, and by 2:30 p.m. UTS had blocked on-campus access to the website noted in the e-mail, and had published a cautionary note through the McMaster University website.
After careful evaluation, it was determined that only two per cent of the targetted population received the spam email, and only 0.05 per cent actually visited the website. However, it is unknown out of this percentile how many email users actually responded to the request in the phishing e-mail. Additionally, a campus-wide notice was released the following morning.
Although the sender is unknown, “it is evident that their intent in sending the e-mail was malicious, and was sent with the purpose of collecting private information that could somehow be misused,” said Kraveca.
Based on the available statistical data, it appears that the phishing e-mail was caught before it was able to travel too far, making its impact quite insignificant. UTS interpreted the given data as affirmation to having successfully educated the McMaster community on protecting themselves from fraudulent emails.
However, UTS did not want to undermine the impact the email had for the 0.05 per cent whose world was turned upside down as a result of the leaked spam.
The hope is that such an incident does not happen again, however, it is not entirely preventable, explained Kraveca. Students and faculty are therefore strongly urged to exercise caution in order to protect themselves from duplicitous emails.
In the event that such an occurrence does repeat, students and faculty are urged to report the potential phishing scam to the UTS Service Desk as soon as possible.
Suggested protective measures may include refraining from opening e-mails if the source is unknown or appears suspicious. Often phishing schemes are designed to imitate legitimate companies or institutions, thus users are encouraged to acknowledge the use of distorted logos and misspelt words, which are telltale signs that the sources are not genuine.
Lastly, one must resist clicking embedded links or verifying confidential information, as these are often connected with fraudulent online activity.
UTS is actively involved around the clock in the prevention, detection and investigation of potential electronic fraud within the University. On any given day UTS processes 1.4 million e-mail messages.
